A helpful Bible study resource

Back in April I wrote a post about the STEP Bible. STEP stands for Scripture Tools for Every Person - and is a great, free, online resource that helps you take your Bible study further. You can read that introductory post here. 

A new translation has been added to the STEP resource. In a Facebook post this week this new translation was described in the following way:

The NET Bible is a fresh scholarly translation in modern English with an important and unique feature: notes that record the translators' decisions. STEPBible has these notes in full, so that when we wonder “What’s behind that translation?” the answer is at hand.

When searching in the 'NETfull' version, every time there is a little arrow, this provides translators' notes at the bottom of the screen. Here is an example from the first word of Luke 2:1.

 

Carol Service Resources

Whether you missed our Carol Service on Sunday or want to rewatch some of the resources, hopefully you'll find what you're looking for below.

If you want to watch these videos in conjuction with Sunday's audio you can find the audio here:

The first video, 'Christmas Chaos', comes immediately after the second reading at 5:41.

You'll find that video, by Igniter Meida here.

The second video, also from Igniter Media, is called 'The Christmas Box' and can be found here. This video comes in my second talk and fits in at 25:10.

The final video is a spoken word piece called 'Instead of You' and can be watched here. This video comes at 29.02.

If you were there on Sunday I'm sure you'll agree that the children did really well. Although we are unable to show you their performance here, their presentation was based on a piece produced by the Bible Society - and you can see that version below. 

The children's presentation appears in the audio recording at 13:48.

Waiting to wait

This coming Sunday we will be lighting the first candle on this year's Advent Wreath.

It is perhaps ironic that having grown up in churches where Advent wasn't 'a thing', I now have to do school assemblies or speak to groups of adults who come from a multi-denominational background about topics like Advent and the Festival of Christ the King.

So what is Advent?

Advent is traditionally a time of waiting and preparation for Christmas. It is recognising and identifying with God's people of old who waited for the coming of the Messiah - and it is also a recognition of the fact that as God's people today we wait for the Second Coming - and we prepare our hearts in the light of this truth.

At a time when the shops on the high street and online have been gearing us up for Chistmas for weeks already it is perhaps more important than ever that we take time to prepare properly for Christmas - not in the sense of making sure that the decorations are ready, and the tree is ready, and the food is ready, that the presents are ready - but in the sense that our hearts and minds are ready.

Many different organisations provide resources that will help prepare for Christmas throughout Advent - here are just two.

There is the Advent Challenge from the Bible Society.

Scripture Union's WordLive have daily videos throughout Advent.

Remembrance Day

This morning, at 11am, we held a two-minute silence to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One and to remember those who served and died in that war, and other wars since then.

If you want to know any more about the men, and one woman, whose names are on the memorial in the church here are a couple of websites to visit.

The first gives the details of the five men who died on day one of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 - click here.

The second is a roll of honour for those listed on the two memorials within Comberton - click here.

We will remember them. 

Harvest

This morning was our Harvest Thanksgiving Service - where we thanked God for his many blessings. We also thought about how we could bless others with what God had already given to us. Specifically, we collected food for our local Foodbank and learned about the work of BMS World Mission in Afghanistan.

If you want to know more about the work of Cambridge City Foodbank click here.

If you meant to bring some items to donate to the Foodbank but forgot, don't worry - we have a box at the back of the church every week that goes to the Foodbank.

We also learnt about the work that BMS World Mission is doing in Afghanistan. 




If you want to find out more about the work of BMS or donate to their work click here.

Also - we will be collecting donation envelopes for the next couple of weeks

Rise and Fall

Last Sunday we started our Autumn teaching series, 'Rise and Fall' looking at the reign of David as told for us in the Old Testament book of 2 Samuel. Quite a bit of this material also appears in Chronicles.

These two videos, from the Bible Project will give you a great overview of both books and help as we seek to understand and apply God's word.

A new beginning

This week there will be nervous 11-year-olds heading to secondary school for the first time. And as well as nerves, many of them will be excited at the new adventure. Some will be dreading what might lie ahead.

And facing new situations doesn't end when we leave school. No matter how old we are and how settled we feel new things might be just around the corner. Sometimes we choose that for ourselves - changing career, moving house. At other times life imposes change on us whether we want it or not.

But how do we respond when faced with something new?

Last Sunday at CBC we looked at Joshua 1:1-9. 

Moses and the people of Israel had been in this place before. Last time they acted out of their fear rather than their trust in God. Now God wants to encourage Joshua to trust him, to keep walking in step with him and to move forward into what God has in store for them.

There are many times in the Bible when we are told not to be worried or anxious about what is before us. Philippians 4:6-7 is a great example. The trouble is that we still worry - and then we worry that we're worrying. Is my worry a sin?

The Apostle Paul told us to rejoice always - and yet there were times when he was sad. He tells us not to be anxious but there are times when he worried about things. From personal experience, I know that there are times when God does give us a supernatural peace but I also know that there are times when I wake up in the middle of the night churning things over in my mind, or my palms are all sweaty at the thought of saying the right thing.

When faced with something new I don't think we need to worry about whether we're worried. The important thing is that when we act, the decisions we make, our choices - these are governed by our trust in God and our obedience to him and not by our fears. So whilst my fears may be saying, 'keep your head down, blend in, don't stand out' - my trust and obedience to God may mean I do none of those things.

On Sunday we watched a couple of videos from Igniter Media - you can follow the links to them here.

https://www.ignitermedia.com/products/8673-god-of-the-new

https://www.ignitermedia.com/products/42274-be-the-new

Praying for the semi-final

Following on from last week, this morning we prayed for Croatia - England's next opponents in the World Cup.

If you want to know how you can pray for Croatia you'll find helpful resources at Operation World and PrayerCast.

Because our projector died 15 minutes before the service began we didn't get a chance to watch this short video from PrayerCast.

Praying for tonight's match

I'm fairly sure that praying for your team to win the World Cup is a waste of time - but praying for the people and the nations involved is not.

On Sunday we prayed for the country of Colombia using some resources from Operation World. You'll find that here.

There's another great resource (although it does take a few minutes to load on my computer) called Prayercast - which has some short video prayers that are informative and give a brief insight to the country and its people. Here's their video prayer for Colombia.

Big Church Day Out 2018

Over half term we took the chance to attend the 'Big Church Day Out' (north) - which if you're camping is actually more like the Big-Church-Three-and-a-Half-Days-Out. The BCDO is basically a Chrisitan music festival with lots of artists spread across 5 different stages over two days worshipping God through different music genres. 

For those who are camping there are additional evening performances - here we're enjoying the Thursday evening sunshine at the Tearfund sponsored Tea Tent listening to Drakeford. 

The main event kicked off at noon on the Friday - where we made our way to the Arkyard Sessions venue to listen to Paul Bell sing about biscuits and promote his great new album 'First Light'.

The main stage hosts some of the biggest names in Christian music and Crowder was definitely one of my highlights.

Another of the smaller stages was the Illuminate stage - here's Guvna B. 

If you've ever seen For King and Country before you will know that even the main stage is not big enough for them and they like to get out and about into the audience.

Each day ends as nightfalls and the stage lights shine bright. 

But there is also a lot more at the BCDO - it's not just about the music.

Rock UK provide free activities - rock climbing, mountain biking and bush craft. There was a mini zoo too.

There's a fair ground and loads of other activities (which are not all free) to keep you entertained.

Plenty of organisations, including MAF, have displays about their work.

Between sets on the main stage representatives from different organisations, such as Tear Fund, are able to speak about their work, or else there are games with very large blue balls to entertain, or maybe chocolate eggs or water balloons are fired deep into the crowd using a large catapult.

To find out more about BCDO 2019 click here.

Pentecost Videos

At our service on Sunday we used the following video from Igniter Media that gives a brief overview of the events of Pentecost.

https://www.ignitermedia.com/products/8486-the-story-of-pentecost

And then on Sunday evening, at our Cluster Celebration we watched one of the Theme videos from The Bible Project, on the theme of the Holy Spirit.



You'll find more of The Bible Project resources on the Holy Spirit, including additional notes and links to their podcasts here.

What's in the Box?

A couple of weeks ago we gave out Kingdom Kits to all of our families with young children here at CBC.

I know at least a few of you were wondering what was in the box - read on and you'll find out.

The contents of the kit are designed to help families pray together throughout the 11 days of Thy Kingdom Come, which runs from Ascension Day (10 May) to Pentecost (20 May). Each day there is a different focus and activity.

The focus and the activities are all from a leaflet provided. These can be purchased from CPO, or last year's leaflet is available as a downloaded from the Thy Kingdom Come website. (The image above is from last year's pack.)

If you're struggling to read the print above you'll find the full-size version here. 

Complete Kingdom Kits can be purchased from CPO or you can make your own.

Here are a few images from inside our boxes.

Video links

Today was the third instalment of our series at CBC, looking at some of the 'I urge you...' statements that we find in the New Testament letters. Today our focus was on submitting and serving, starting off with 1 Corinthians 16:12-18, but also taking in Philippians 2:3-8, Luke 22:25-26, 1 Corinthians 12:4-31 and Ephesians 4:11-13.

We also used a couple of videos - the links are here:

https://www.ignitermedia.com/products/7018-mechurch

https://www.ignitermedia.com/products/8217-free-to-serve

Listening to design patterns

Unless this is the first time you've visited my blog it's unlikely that you've not come across The Bible Project. They're the team responsible for the Corinthians and the Romans videos that I've posted recently. Whether it's brief videos about individual books of the Bible, videos exploring biblical themes, or videos looking at questions like, 'how do you read the Bible?' - then their site is well worth a visit as it's packed with some really good and helpful stuff.

Back in the day of the iPod Nano (2nd Generation) I used to listen to quite a lot of podcasts. I spent time on public transport travelling around north London and so listening to a whole range of podcasts made good use of my time.

But for whatever reason, at some point, I got out of the habit.

My iPod is long dead and phones have become smart phones. 

And whilst the latest phones struggle to make a phone call they do allow you to do loads of other stuff - including subscribing to podcasts. And so I have recently got back into the habit of listening to podcasts and there is some brilliant material on The Bible Project site.

I am currently listening to their 'Design Patterns in the Bible' series - which is over four hours of spoken material that was a part of the process behind a 6 minute video on the same topic, which is the eighth video in the 'How to read the Bible' series - with each of the previous seven videos having about an hour of spoken material in a previous podcast.

That's a lot of really good material. You'll find the list of their podcasts here or you can subscribe on an appropriate app.

Background to 1 Corinthians

For the next couple of Sundays, as we continue our new series looking at the 'I urge you' phrases in the New Testament letters, we're going to be in the letter known as 1 Corinthians.

This week we're looking at the theme of being united based on Paul's instruction in 1 Corinthians 1:10 

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.

Then next week we're looking at submitting and serving one another starting with 16:15-16 

I urge you, brothers and sisters, to submit to such people and to everyone who joins in the work and labours at it.

An important part of working out what the Bible is saying to us now, is to know what it was saying then. Because these are letters - written by an actual person (Paul), to a group of actual people (the church in the city of Corinth), about an actual series of events (issues that had arisen in the church) it is important to know this background before we start to attempt to apply this letter to CBC in 2018.

We're not going to have much time to look at this background - but below is a great overview video from The Bible Project. There's also plenty of other great stuff on the Bible Project website including written content and access to a series of podcasts.

Using the STEP Bible for a word study

On Sunday here at CBC we started a new teaching series looking at some of the 'I urge you...' phrases that we find in the New Testament letters. On Sunday I mentioned that not all English translations of the Bible translate this phrase 'I urge you...' on every occasion - sometimes they use 'I appeal to you ...' for example. So if we wanted to locate every verse where this phrase appeared in the original language - how would we do that?

A few weeks ago our speaker talked about their work with the STEP Bible - a free online resource that would allow us to find the answer to our question above.

Start by visiting the STEP Bible webpage here. It will open up in Genesis 1.

Whilst we use the NIV translation at church, the ESV in the STEP Bible allows us access to many more features so let's have a look at the first verse in our new series Romans 12:1-2 in the ESV and the NIV. Hovering over words in the ESV will give us important information about words in the original language.

We will then have a look at the Greek phrase that is translated 'I urge you'.

We will then search for this Greek phrase in the New Testament - and then limit our search to just the Epistles.

This short video will show you the different steps involved in this process.

I urge you

This coming Sunday we're starting a new teaching series looking at some of the passages in the New Testament letters which contain the phrase, 'I urge you...'.

Are these commandments? Or are they just good advice - a helpful tip in life? Can you take it or leave it?

We're starting with Paul's phrase in Romans 12:1-2.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

In this series we're going to be dotting around from one letter to another. And it is important to remember that what we are reading are letters from a real person, to real people, in a real context. As always, when it comes to applying the Bible, we need to be able to answer the 'what did it mean then?' question before we can start to think about the 'what does it mean now?' question. A part of this process involves trying to find out as much as possible about the context into which the letter is being written.

This week, we're looking at a verse from the letter to the Romans. By way of introduction here are The Bible Project's videos on Romans.

STEP Bible Resource

This Sunday our preacher at CBC was David Instone-Brewer. David is Senior Research Fellow at Tyndale House in Cambridge - and you can read more about him here.

David did mention his work on the STEP Bible (STEP stands for Scripture Tools for Every Person) and gave a quick demonstration - the idea being that this is a resource that will be accessible to people in the majority world who don't have access to, or can't afford, commercial Bible study software (or books).

You can have a look for yourself by clicking here.

If you want to look in a bit more detail there is also a 'Studies with www.StepBible.org' Youtube channel which you'll find here. These short videos will help you get more out of the STEP Bible. I've included the first one here:

How to read the Bible - some video resources

In my last post I shared a link to Bible Gateway Plus - a great resource that provides us with aids to help us understand what we're reading in the Bible - through dictionaries and commentaries etc - you can read that post here.

Also key to reading, understanding and applying the Bible is an appreciation of the kind of book it is, the different kinds of writing it contains, and its literary and cultural background.

I have mentioned several times on this blog the work of The Bible Project. Although they produce a range of resources they are probably best known for their short videos. Some of these are about a specific book of the Bible, some explore a theme or a word, and one of their more recent series is called 'How to read the Bible'.

This series, which is still ongoing, currently includes videos on: 

• What is the Bible?
• The story of the Bible
• Literary styles in the Bible
• The Bible as Jewish meditation literature
• Plot in biblical narrative
• Character in biblical narrative
• Setting in biblical narrative
• Design patterns in biblical narrative

I have put the first of these videos below. To watch the rest, head over to their website and whilst you're there have a good look around.

Bible Resources free trial

A few weeks ago, following a sermon on Mark 13, I wrote a post about what we do when we come across a passage in the Bible that we don't understand. Do we just ignore it, ask someone else about it, ask Google, or do we have some resources (alongside prayer) that will help us tackle the question for ourselves? You can read that post here.

I regularly use Bible Gateway - and if you've ever clicked on one of the Bible reference links on my blog you will have used Bible Gateway too.

As well as using their main site to read the Bible, Bible Gateway now have Bible Gateway Plus, which comes with a free 30-day trial.

As well as removing all ads from your reading experience this also gives you access to an expanded library - including some similar resources to those I mentioned in my previous post. Click here to read more about Bible Gateway Plus.




I am aware that the resources I mentioned last time do not come cheap so this might be a way of having a look at the resources without any cost - at least for the first 30 days.

Easter Resources - part 2

Following on from Friday - here are links to the resources that we used in our all age service on Easter Sunday.

An Easter Moment - the video about the Easter bunny from Igniter Media

Here is The Seriously Surprising Story from the Bible Society




And here's the Divine Comedy video from Speak Life



The two books that were mentioned in the course of the service were:

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel and Through Gates of Splendour by Elizabeth Elliot

Easter Resources - part 1

Here are some of the resources that we've used so far this Easter at CBC to help us reflect on and respond to the Easter story.

Maundy Thursday

'Love ran red' by Chris Tomlin - click this link to visit Chris Tomlin's official Youtube channel

'The Table' by Chris Tomlin - click here.

'Weep with me' by Rend Collective - click here 

Good Friday

'Forgiven' by Crowder - click here

The video 'Sounds of the Cross' can be viewed here. (We didn't watch right to the end on Good Friday.)

The 'It's Midnight...' reflection was from Bob Hartman's book 'Telling the Bible - 2'

Come back on Sunday for some more resources.

Digging deeper into the Bible?

Last Sunday, as a part of our 'Jesus is Good News' series in Mark's gospel, we were looking at Mark 13. This is the passage where the disciples comment on how impressive the temple in Jerusalem is and Jesus tells them that not one stone of the temple will remain standing on another. The disciples ask him when this will happen. And then Jesus answers them by either, i) just talking about the destruction of the temple for the rest of the chapter, or ii) starts off talking about the destruction of the temple but then goes on to talk about the end times or iii) talks about the destruction of the temple but sees this as a picture of what will happen at the end times. You can read the chapter for yourself here. 

There was a lot that I didn't get a chance to say on Sunday, but as part of the introduction we talked about what we do when we come across a Bible passage we don't understand. 

As a Christian, I believe that the Bible is the word of God, and whatever else I might mean  by that phrase, it certainly includes the expectation that I will be changed through the process of reading. As I read the Bible I expect it to challenge my behaviour, my attitudes, my thinking, my understanding, my hopes... I read it with the 'so what?' question in mind.

And for any passage in the Bible, however simple and straightforward it may seem, a key part of answering that 'so what?' question is to first of all understand what it meant then - what was it trying to do then - because once we find the answer to that question we can then start to work out what it means for us today.

But very often we need help answering that first question because of the gap that exists between when the text was written and when we're reading it. Gaps in language, time, culture, experience, religious worldview etc. Sometimes, especially if we're reading something apparently straightforward, we can forget this gap exists - which can lead to problems because we forget to answer the first question (what did it mean then?) and jump straight onto the second question (what does it mean now?)

But when we come to a passage like Mark 13, which leaves us scratching our heads and wondering what it's all about - what do we do? What do we do when we find a passage we're not sure we really understand? How do we go about working out what the author meant by the phrase 'the abomination that causes desolation' and where is it standing and why shouldn't it be there?

Because if we believe that the Bible is the word of God then surely we need to do something. We can't just shrug our shoulders and move on to another passage that is easier to apply. Or maybe we do.

But if we want to study a passage in more detail, if we want to dig around until we find some answers where do we start?

Hopefully, it goes without saying, but we start with prayer. Although there is this huge gap in language, time, culture etc one of the amazing things is that because the Bible is God's word then we have access to the author.

Prayer does not excuse us from the discipline of study - but our study must be done within the context of prayer.

We were not intended to read the Bible in isolation and so hopefully you are part of a church community, and within that community there will be others that you can go to for help with your questions. Or maybe you are part of a small group and can tackle your questions together.

For an increasing number of people today the starting point when they have a question is to ask Google, Siri, or Alexa - other search engines are available. But whilst there is a lot of good material on the internet there is also a lot of rubbish. Anyone can write anything, they can claim anything, they can present anything as fact - and you have access to it. No one has had to check what I've written here before I posted it online - I can make any claims I like. So if we're going to use online resources to help us understand the Bible we need to check our sources carefully.

I have often referred to The Bible Project - a website where you will find some great resources.

[added 31/3 - I have also recently come across the Biblegateway Plus resource, free for a month and then about $4 a month after that - will write another post after Easter]

But I think there comes a point where you will have to buy some books - either electronic or paper. These days I mainly buy electronic books within the Olive Tree Bible software app. These books are no cheaper than on paper but many of them are hyper-linked so that when I am reading a passage in the Bible I can immediately see which of my commentaries, dictionaries etc have something to say on that passage (see the numbers down the right hand side of the image below). Obviously, this saves a lot of time, but it also means I can carry a whole library around with me on my phone or laptop which is great.

So, what should I buy to get started? 

A good study Bible and a single volume Bible commentary will get you started. 

If you were looking for paper versions I'd recommend
the NIV Study Bible which will cost about £40 and the New Bible Commentary which is also around the £40 mark.

Within my Olive Tree app I use the NIV Word Study Bible which allows you to click on any word and get useful information - and allowing you to search the Bible for other occurrences of that word - but this search is based on the biblical languages rather than the English. 

[Coming back to Mark 13 briefly - in verse 2 Jesus says 'do you see' but that is the same Greek word used in verse 5 translated 'watch out'. It is also used three other times in this chapter. This is really helpful in seeing links that might be missed because we're reading in English.]

If you're wondering which version of the Bible to use then I have previously written on that here.

And one last great resource that's well worth reading - 'How to read the Bible for all it's worth'. 

Mothering Sunday

This Sunday, here in the UK, is Mother's Day - it also happens to be Mothering Sunday. Two quite different things.

Mothering Sunday has been celebrated since the 16th Century on the fourth Sunday of Lent and it has nothing to do with cards, chocolates or breakfast in bed. Knowing that the celebration is over 400 years old that might not come as too much of a surprise. But it might come as a surprise to know that Mothering Sunday has nothing to do with the honouring of mums either.

Trying to communicate this to a whole primary school assembly this week I introduced the children to their great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandma. Rather than go through all those greats every time we simply called her Mary. 

As a young teen (although of course, Mary didn't know that she was a teenager) Mary was sent off to work, maybe as a scullery maid, in a large house, that's about 6 miles from home. So she left home and received board and lodging as a part of her employment, and rarely returned home.

Whilst our primary school children contemplated the luxury of 175 days 'off' a year (holidays and weekends) they were thankful that they were not Mary - because Mary only got one day off a year - the fourth Sunday of Lent.

And on the fourth Sunday of Lent, Mary went 'a-mothering', she went back to her 'mother church' - the local parish church where she grew up and was baptised. And on the way back to her mother church she picked some wild flowers - maybe to decorate the church or maybe to give to her mum. And because all the other local servants also got the fourth Sunday in Lent off, and because they all travelled back to their mother church too, this would have been a joyful occasion. Families and neighbours got to catch up with the young people and the not so young people who had grown up in the village and had now travelled away to work. For many families this might be the only day in the year when they all got to be together.

Mother's Day is a much more recent creation - maybe only going back as far as great, great grandma and is a celebration honouring mothers. Interestingly enough those who were instrumental in the successful founding of Mother's Day in the early 1900s were soon organising boycotts of Mother's Day as a protest of what they saw as the commercialisation of the holiday.

Here is the UK Mothering Sunday and Mother's Day are celebrated on the same Sunday. The two celebrations have now been mixed up and most people probably think that they are the same thing.

Traditions

On Sunday we watched a few videos - which don't come across well with the audio recording of the service. So you'll find them below.

I expect that most of us know what it is like to wear a mask - to be one thing on the outside whilst knowing that inside things are very different.



Last Sunday at CBC, as part of our series, 'Jesus is good news' we were looking at Mark 7:1-23. We have already seen that Jesus knows what people are thinking - he sees what's going on on the inside as well as what's going on on the outside.

One of the challenges of Jesus' teaching is that ultimately it’s not, what we do that matters, but why we do it. What people see on the outside is not as important as what God sees on the inside. So even if we're doing lots of good stuff, if our motives are wrong, it ultimately counts for nothing.

The things that we do need to come out of a heart that is responding to what God has already done. We've already seen in this series that God can deal with our sin problem - we can't fix that ourselves no matter how much good stuff we might do. We need to let God deal with our sin problem first, and then act in response to God's love for us.

For Jesus, everything stems from our total love for God and our love for those around us. Jesus was calling his disciples into a relationship - a relationship with God which would impact their relationship with others (Mark 12:29-31).

But how much of what we do is just tradition - and is that necessarily a bad thing?



Jaroslav Pelikan said, ‘Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.’

It can be very easy to read a passage like Mark 7 and be critical of the Pharisees; to conclude that tradition is bad; to be totally oblivious to our various traditions; to throw the baby out with the bath water.

There certainly seem to be fewer traditions telling us about how to behave on a Sunday than there were when I was growing up. All sorts of things that you could and (mainly) could not do on a Sunday.

But traditions can be good.

Some traditions act as a signpost - pointing us toward God and what God is like. The ceremonial washing reminds us that God is holy and that we're not and that you can't just waltz into God's presence. This points to a truth about God, but also points us towards Jesus - the one who will provide the way in which we can be made clean and therefore free to enter God's presence. The problem occurs when the signpost becomes more important than what it is pointing towards.

Other traditions act as a fence keeping us away from the edge of a dangerous cliff. They keep us from putting ourselves in a situation or a place where we are likely to sin, or where we put ourselves in a spiritually dangerous place.

Some traditions are important because they help us develop the disciplines that keep our relationship with God healthy.

Are there traditions that you stick to? Why? What are they helping you to do?

Are there traditions that you might need to pick up again or start for the first time - things that will help you in your walk with God?